Everyday Inspiration – This Present Darkness & Piercing the Darkness

#everydayinspiration – Books that changed my life

Eeryday Inspiration 3_Day 15In this journey of faith, there has been much to learn. The first book that changed my life was the Bible. I read The Living Bible from cover to cover around the time my oldest son was five years old. He is now almost 32 years old. This reading seemed to give me a real heart for God. In the reading, learning about the children of Israel and God’s relationship with them as well as theirs with God. There were moments that I could actually place myself in their shoes as well as connect to God in a way that I had not done so before.

However, the significance of the two books in this post is how the perspective of the writer, Frank Peretti, changed my whole thought process about good and evil. His detailed information about the subtlety and strategies of the enemy to lure us away from God is truly awesome to me. There was an understanding about the forces of good and evil that was given to me with such clarity. And, while I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the characters who had the challenges that we face today, the understanding about how difficult it can be to deal with those used by the enemy in our journey was very enlightening. Peretti shed clarity about the children of God, those who chose not to believe, those who were used by the enemy, the enemy and the angels.
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This “Self” is a Hard Pill to Swallow

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This journey…

Self-reliance is a very hard habit to break. I remember when I took the art and humanities class in college and the historical information was about the evolving self. From the beginning of time, the goal of humanity has been to do without God. In the expression of art and humanities such as psychology, the evolution has been to focus on self (our abilities, our mind, our desires, our flesh). “Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation,. The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41, NKJV). Jesus found it necessary to remind His disciples. I speak about the flesh today, the natural man who looks to do things his way no matter what. But I also speak to the spirit man of those who know that we can do nothing (no thing) outside of God. What He allows us to do, even when we don’t consider the consequences, is about Him and not us; about us drawing closer to Him, trusting Him, leaning on Him and glorifying Him, not self. There are several Scriptures that come to mind as I write today.
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